THE SEA CHANGES VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09

Sea Changes is a passionate look at one woman’s struggle with grief and independence. Love, loss and Sarah’s search for hope will inspire all readers to believe that ultimately, anything is possible.

When Sarah’s husband dies suddenly, she is left with no anchor and no focus.
Grief is an ever-present companion and counseling a weekly chore with minimal results, but when Sarah decides to end her life her suicide attempt takes her to an underwater world where she finds comfort and friendship. Afterwards, back on the beach she wonders – Was it a dream? Was I hallucinating? Or am I going mad?

Her efforts to make sense of the experience lead to Sarah’s becoming a suspect in the alleged kidnapping of a young heiress. Now her worlds are colliding – and the people she trusts are backing away, not believing a word she says. She must decide what is real and what is not. Her life depends on it.

AUTHOR'S BIO:

Gail Graham’s previous novel, CROSSFIRE, won the Buxtehude Bulle, a prestigious German literary award. CROSSFIRE has been translated into German, French, Danish, Finnish and Swedish. Three of Gail’s other books were NY Times Book of the Year recommendations. Gail lived in Australia for 32 years, where she owned and operated a community newspaper and published several other books, including A COOL WIND BLOWING (a biography of Mao Zedong) STAYING ALIVE and A LONG SEASON IN HELL. She returned to the United States in 2002, and now lives in Tucson, Arizona.

You can visit Gail online at www.gailgraham.net.

TO SEE WHERE GAIL AND SARAH STOP NEXT, VISIT www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com

THE CASE OF THE MISSING SOCK VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09

In this story siblings Max and Mia Holmes, along with their good friend Morris and their flamboyant Granny Holmes, are know as The Crypto-Capers. They are a group of detectives who unravel crimes by solving cryptograms that criminals leave behind. Mia is an expert puzzle solver. Max is great at deduction and reasoning. Morris is a computer genius, and Granny…well, Granny is the muscle of the group. Don’t let her size or age fool you—she is quite handy.

The Case of the Missing Sock leads the Crypto-Capers to Florida, where they are hired by a Mr. Delacomb. The mystery leads the team to different locations. Clues flourish throughout the mystery. Suspects by the handful seem to pop up at every turn, but who committed the crime? Help the detectives solve the case by solving the cryptograms and puzzles.

AUTHOR'S BIO:

My love for reading and writing started when I was a child. I always had a passion for it. I remember frequently wearing out the stone steps to the local library. When in a bookstore I would sit in the middle of an aisle perusing a novel that I was eagerly going to purchase but couldn’t wait to read. Often, when I had extra time, I would write stories that would pop into my head locking myself in my room for hours. Now that I am older my love for reading and writing has not diminished. In fact, it has only become a bigger part of me. It is because of this that I chose to share my interests with other readers who love books as much as I do.

My goal in writing is to entertain, but more importantly it is to build a connection with my readers. If I make another person feel some kind of emotion while they read my books, whether it be love, anger, or compassion, then I did my job as a writer and that makes me feel good about what I write about. Romance is something in all of us. It is something that brings passion to our lives and happiness to our hearts. It is the strength, courage and determination of when two souls find each other and their journey, that inspires me to write in this genre. It shows that love, of any kind, is not an easy path to take. You must fight everyday to keep it for it is never easily attained and can so easily be lost or forgotten.

Since my first novel has been published I have done over 50 events. I have been on radio, TV, and have been in over 30 newspapers. I have experience talking in classrooms about writing. I have presented at various libraries, have done several book signings and many other venues with more going on in the future. My family has encouraged my talents and creativity and I couldn’t have gotten this far without their support and love. Having Magic Hearts published really was a dream come true and I am thankful to God for all of the blessings in my life. I have also received an award for Magic Hearts for Best 2006 Fantasy Romance. I am thrilled. My second novel Seduction of the Lonely Heart has won a National Literary Award for Best Romance of 2007. I am thankful for these two awards.

I have also ventured in writing other genres. I have a new children's detective series out. The first book of the series, The Crypto-Capers in the Case of the Missing Sock, is currently released. This story is filled with adventure and heart. With relatable characters and you, as the reader, a part of the story, helping the detectives solve the case. I love being an author! Thank you for all of your support.

You can visit Renée online at www.reneeahand.com.

TO SEE WHERE RENÉE, MAX, MIA, MORRIS, AND GRANNY HOLMES STOP NEXT, VISIT www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com.

LIZZIE'S RAKE VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '09

Can a rake reform his ways and truly love? Lizzie's head tells her one thing, her heart another.

Infamous rake and Corinthian, Maxim Beaufort, Earl of St. Ive, finding himself in possession of a property in Yorkshire, is unprepared for the changes it will bring into his life.

Irresistibly drawn to Elizabeth Granger, the former owner’s daughter, he attempts to help the family, finding himself filling the role of benefactor.

When the house is razed to the ground, he arranges for temporary accommodation for Elizabeth and her siblings on his estate and when Elizabeth rejects his proposal of marriage, he is nonetheless determined to win her over.

However, events and his reputation conspire to thwart his efforts and his course is one fraught with dangers.

Trust does not come easily and determined to protect her heart, Elizabeth struggles to resist her own longings. At times, their difficulties appear insurmountable but the earl is widely known as ‘The Indomitable’ and the name was not lightly earned.

AUTHOR'S BIO:


Hazel Statham lives in Staffordshire, England. She started writing at fifteen and has written on and off ever since. She has always been fascinated by history and writes mainly in the Regency and Georgian eras, although she has had a short medieval story published. When she was a child, she often told herself stories and this just progressed to committing them to paper to entertain family and friends. There have however, been gaps in her writing years where marriage and employment intervened, but now that she no longer works, she is able to return to her first love and devote her time to writing. She had her first two novels published in 2005.

She has been married to her husband Terry since 1969 and they have a grown daughter and beautiful grandson. Apart from reading and writing historical novels, her other ruling passion is animals and until recently, she was treasurer for an organization that raised money for animal charities. She currently shares her home with two lovely yellow Labradors named Lucy and Mollie, who are her constant companions. They are real sweeties, but it’s not always easy working at the computer with a large Labrador trying to get on your knee!

You can visit Hazel online at www.hazel-statham.co.uk.

TO SEE WHERE HAZEL AND LIZZIE STOP NEXT, VISIT http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

Lizzie's Rake is available at Amazon.com and at The Wild Rose Press.

Feeding Lions by Paul Ibbetson--Book Review

A thought-provoking, well-written, and often humorous collection of articles can be found in Feeding Lions: Sharing the Conservative Philosophy in a Politically Hostile World by Paul Ibbetson.

Ibbetson has collected some of his most widely read articles in an easy-to-digest format that shares the overall conservative philosophy. More than preaching to the choir, Ibbetson's engaging and conversational style will appeal to both conservatives and liberals. Discussing such topics as: the Fairness Doctrine, the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, global warming, and border security, the author accurately and effectively presents the conservative worldview, how it differs from the liberal worldview, and how those differences shape world events.

Included with these articles is additional commentary by the author, black and white photos, a selection of reader responses to some of Ibbetson's articles, a conservative website directory and a conservative radio directory.

An absolute must read for anyone interested in politics, current events, or in understanding what conservatives truly think. Feeding Lions by Paul Ibbetson is just as brilliant as it is funny.


Title: Feeding Lions: Sharing a Conservative Philosophy in a Hostile World
Author: Paul Ibbetson
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4389-2008-5 (sc)
SRP: $12.50 (U.S.)

How Math Helps Make Relationships Work by Tim Kellis

Today's special guest is Tim Kellis, author of Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage.

The journey through Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage includes a trip through history, where the most significant lessons civilization has learned over the last few thousand years are used to demonstrate not only the way to set up a positive relationship, but the causes of that relationship turning negative.

Additionally, Kellis dives into the science of psychology to answer the most basic question anyone asks who goes through the pain of divorce, “why didn’t we work out”?

The basic premise of the book is that we have a 50% divorce rate yet there doesn’t appear to be anything happening to help solve this problem. Just because divorce has become a significant part of our culture doesn’t mean we should simply sit back while countless families suffer through the agony of splitting up.

The toll to society tomorrow because of our culture of divorce today is impossible to determine but future generations will have to deal with this change to the culture that has occurred over the last two generations.

For the first time in history Kellis elaborates on a psychological solution to our psychological problems so that couples can learn how to change the direction of their negative relationships. In essence, the psychological objective is to understand what happens mentally between two people who make one of the most important decisions of their lives, to get married.

The objective of this book is to provide real, logical help to couples so they can learn how to stay out of the divorce trap. The bottom line is to learn how to set up your relationship so that you can maintain a happy, healthy, harmonious, loving, affectionate, intimate marriage.

Tim's Turn:

How math helps make relationships work?

Almost without exception, observed the great 20th Century philosopher Bertrand Russell in his exhaustive study of the history of Western philosophy, modern Platonists “are ignorant of mathematics, in spite of the immense importance Plato attached to arithmetic and geometry, and the immense influence that they had on his philosophy”.

As it turns out math provides the foundation to not only science, but philosophy and psychology. What Bertrand Russell is saying here is modern thinkers in the field of philosophy have forgotten logic as the basis for thought. I am extending this thought to include the psychology industry, for as it turns out psychology has been misplaced as an educational tool. Psychology, as an extension of the psychiatry industry, has been brought up as an extension to the medical field.

Consequently, because of Freud’s biology theory, the focus of therapy is almost exclusively the research of not only the brain, but also the emotional side of our mental lives. The basic component of therapy is referred to as “cognitive behavioral therapy” where clients of therapists discuss feelings behind the behavior within the relationship, and completely leave out the logical side of our mental lives.

And this is the fundamental basic reason why modern psychology has not been able to solve the marriage problem. My joke is of the 100 books that went into the research for my book, all were non-fiction, with the lone exception of the relationship books. No we are not from different planets, despite the success of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. There is no logic to that concept, but that concept permeates relationships today.

The key to solving the relationship problem is by using our logical mental lives to solve our relationship problems, even the emotional side of our psyche. And math provides the foundation for logic. No the answer isn’t as simple as a math problem, but the philosophical notion that we can think through our mental problems. This is the point that Betrand Russell is making with his statement. Math can provide the foundation for solving our relationship problems, not literally but philosophically.



After a successful career that eventually landed him on Wall Street, Tim Kellis met what he thought was the girl of his dreams, only to see that relationship end with bitterness and anger. The journey included work with a marital therapist, and after he discovered the therapist wasn’t really helping decided to tackle the issue himself.

Ambition and a strong aptitude for math helped lead Kellis to discover how to make relationships work. His math skills led directly to an engineering degree, nine years in the telecommunications industry, an MBA in finance, and finally on to Wall Street, where he became the very first semiconductor analyst to focus on the communications market.

After publishing a 300-page initiation piece entitled "Initiating Coverage of the Semiconductor Industry: Riding the Bandwidth Wave", Kellis became a leading semiconductor analyst at one of the biggest firms on Wall Street. The experience he gained as a Wall Street analyst provided an excellent backdrop for becoming an expert on relationships, and resulted in his relationship book entitled Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage.

You can visit his website at www.happyrelationships.com or his blog at http://questforthehappymarriage.blogspot.com/.

Herbert Howard Jones and The Pyewiz and the Amazing Mobile Phone

Today's guest blogger is Herbert Howard Jones, author of the young adult fantasy novel, The Pyewiz and the Amazing Mobile Phone.


Journey to a frozen planet to find a long lost twin. An amazing crystal phone with incredible powers. A cunning old pirate wizard who must be stopped.

Schoolboy Terry Mctrain thinks the new tenant in his parent's guesthouse is strange. Stranger still is the reason why she is here. Then Terry learns about a twin brother he never knew he had, kidnapped by a pirate wizard years ago. Baffled by all this, Terry realizes there's a mystery to be solved, and a secret to be uncovered. But when he discovers that the fate of the world is also in his hands, he wonders...

Could this turn into the adventure of a lifetime?

Perhaps, but unless Terry and his friend Will travel to the other side of the solar system to solve this puzzle, there's a danger that the world would be destroyed, and his twin brother lost forever.

Who the devil is the Pyewiz?
by Herbert Howard Jones

I'd love to say that the Pyewiz is the very devil himself, but he's too human, possessing frailties that mere mortals know only too well. But despite what people think about the Devil, the one thing you can accuse him of is greed, because, according to some quarters, he possesses the world! And greed is what the Pyewiz has in abundance! To be fair, the Devil could also be said to be rather ambitious, and this is something the Pyewiz definitely has in common with him. Aside from this, the Pyewiz does not entirely consider himself to be a law-unto-himself. He is in fact fiercely loyal to his Queen, Queen Elizabeth I, and in his own mind is still fighting Elizabethan battles with the Spanish! But being sequestered on a planet millions of miles from earth does make this rather impractical, and so his MO is to pressgang the innocent into naval service, and he does this on his frequent and secret sorties to earth, in the dead of night. His objective is to become a force to be reckoned with in the known universe. But let's be honest, this is not a glorious pursuit, because he is primarily doing this off the back of slavery. In this respect he deserves to be taken to task. Also the Pyewiz, or pirate wizard, relies heavily on modern technology despite hailing from an overtly superstitious 15th century, and has actually never cast a magic spell in his life! But to sum up his best and worst characteristics, he has been said to be a scoundrel, a demon, the worst possible person you could meet, a rotter, a crook, a liar, a trickster, a person not to be trusted, a rotten so-and-so, a manipulator, a drunkard, a no good cheating gambler, a dirty stopout, a person to be avoided, a man of extremely poor character, an advocate of corruption, a snake in the grass, someone who is economical with the truth, a fruit cake, a loud mouth, an authoritarian and spiritually bankrupt bossy brute, and by his own reckoning, a bit of a loveable rogue. He is also a big man with a big mouth with a veracious appetite for food, liquor and treasure!

About the author:

Herbert Howard Jones was born in London in 1955, and went to Eccles Hall, a boarding school in Norfolk. Jones attended Lisburn college in Ireland and then worked in a wide variety of occupations, including law, as a porter at the BBC, in jewellery manufacture, publishing, and commercial art.

It was only in his fifties that Jones seriously sought publication. The Pyewiz and The Amazing Mobile Phone is his first book.

At the present time he is busily writing his second book and is painting. He hopes to have his first exhibition of art in London in the near future.

You can visit his website at www.science-fiction-fantasy.com.

View the trailer for The Pyewiz and The Amazing Mobile Phone:

Pump Up Your Book Promotion's May Authors on Tour

Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long with Pump Up Your Book Promotion to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by!

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Barry Eisler, author of the thriller, Fault Line (Ballantine Books), will be stopping off at Chic Book Chick! A full-throttle thriller that is both emotionally and politically charged, Fault Line centers on a conspiracy that has spun out of the shadows and onto the streets of America, a conspiracy that can be stopped by only three people–three people with different worldviews, different grievances, different motives. To survive the forces arrayed against them, they’ll first have to survive one another.

You can visit his website at www.barryeisler.com.

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NY Times bestselling author Jamie Ford, author of the WWII historical fiction novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Ballantine Books) will be stopping off at The Koolaid Mom! In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II.

You can visit his website at www.jamieford.com.

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Therese Fowler, author of the women’s fiction novel, Reunion (Ballantine Books), will be stopping off at Book Reporter! Celebrity talk show host Blue Reynolds is the queen of daytime television—she is smart, funny, and as down-to-earth as her adoring fans. In the eyes of the world, she has it all. But no one knows about the secret she has harbored for the last twenty years—a secret that could destroy her image, her reputation, and her career. Twenty years ago, she gave birth to a son and put him up for adoption through illegal channels. And every day since, she’s been filled with regret. Now Blue has hired a private investigator to find her son, knowing full well the consequences.

You can visit Therese’s website at www.theresefowler.com.

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Chet Galaska, author of the Christian nonfiction book, Finding Faith in a Skeptical World (Triad Press), will be stopping off at The Writer's Life! This book was written with the intent of providing brief shortcuts for curious unbelievers, those seeking faith, those new to it, and for Christians who may not be familiar with some of the ideas covered. The author realized that a book like this would have been valuable in helping him come to faith. Since none was available, he wrote Finding Faith in a Skeptical World to share the things he learned in a reader-friendly, direct and concise way.

You can visit Chet online at http://findingfaith.us.

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C.W. Gortner, author of the historical fiction novel, The Last Queen (Ballantine Books) will be stopping off at Ramya's Bookshelf! Daughter of Isabel of Castile and sister of Catherine of Aragon. Married at sixteen and a queen at twenty-five. Declared mad by history. Juana of Castile, the last true queen of Spain. Ruled by her passions, Juana’s arranged marriage to Philip the Fair of Flanders begins as a fairytale romance when despite never having met before their betrothal, they fall violently in love. Juana is never meant to be more than his consort and mother to his heirs until she finds herself heiress to the throne of Spain after tragedy decimates her family. Suddenly she is plunged into a ruthless battle of ambition and treachery, with the future of Spain and her own freedom at stake. Told in Juana’s voice, The Last Queen is a powerful and moving portrait of a woman ahead of her time, a queen who fought fiercely for her birthright in the face of an unimaginable betrayal. Juana’s story is one of history’s darkest secrets, brought vividly to life in this exhilarating novel.

You can visit C.W. on the web at www.cwgortner.com.

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HBF (Hopeful But Frustrated) Teacher, author of the realistic fiction book, No Teachers Left Behind (2nd Avenue Publishing), will be stopping off at American Chronicle! Explored through a series of poems, emails, and brief conversations, No Teachers Left Behind is a fictional yet realistic look at the frustrations of middle school staff.

You can visit her website at www.noteachersleftbehind.info.

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Herbert Howard Jones, author of the young adult fantasy novel, The Pyewiz and the Amazing Mobile Phone (YouWriteOn.com), will be stopping off at The Writer's Life! Schoolboy Terry Mctrain thinks the new tenant in his parent’s guesthouse is strange. Stranger still is the reason why she is here. Then Terry learns about a twin brother he never knew he had, kidnapped by a pirate wizard years ago. Baffled by all this, Terry realizes there’s a mystery to be solved, and a secret to be uncovered. But when he discovers that the fate of the world is also in his hands, he wonders..could this turn into the adventure of a lifetime?

You can visit Herbert on the web at www.science-fiction-fantasy.com.

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Tim Kellis, author of the relationship book, Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage (Gilgamesh Publishing), will be stopping off at The Book Connection! The journey through Equality: The Quest for the Happy Marriage includes a trip through history, where the most significant lessons civilization has learned over the last few thousand years are used to demonstrate not only the way to set up a positive relationship, but the causes of that relationship turning negative.

You can visit Tim online at www.happyrelationships.com.

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Rie McGaha, author of the fantasy erotic romance novel, Blood Line (Noble Romance Publishing), will be stopping off at Marta's Meanderings! Truck driver, Joshua Kaine and his wife, Jessie, enjoy the freedom of the open road until one night on a lonely country road Josh is attacked by a rabid dog. After killing the animal, Joshua becomes very ill, but quickly recovers. Weeks later, when the full moon rises and Josh begins howling, the trouble has just begun. Drawn by an unknown force, Joshua finds himself in a remote mountain area at The Gathering where he meets Garan, a gray wolf who has walked the earth for thousands of years, and Joshua learns the rabid dog was actually a werewolf and his clan is now after Josh. On the run, hunted by a clan of werewolves, and searching to undo his plight, Josh ventures into the swamps of Louisiana in search of an old, black woman who holds the key to his existence. Josh is pushed to the limits, and when the merciless werewolves kill his wife, the hunted becomes the hunter.

You can visit Rie on the web at http://riemcgaha.com/.

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Kathye Quick, author of the historical romance novel, Cynthia and Constantine, will be stopping off at Beyond the Books! Lady Cynthia of Abertaine is trapped. Not only has her fiancé, Sir William Leyborne, not been back to the castle for over ten years, but she’s also not a titled Lady. Lord Simon of Cowell, a renegade warlord aligned with Mordred against Arthur and his Knights, has declared himself sovereign over Leybourne Castle and everything that once belonged to Sir William– including Cynthia. Drawn together by an attraction older than time, Cynthia and Constantine soon discover that though a vow made by a knight’s honor has brought them together, it may just also cost them their lives.

You can visit Kathye on the web at www.kathyequick.com.

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Elizabeth Walker, author of the memoir, The Tablet of My Heart, will be stopping off at Paperback Writer! The world turns upside down for a young girl when her father begins a fatal battle with the merciless affliction cancer. Before his illness finishes it’s devastating rampage through her adolescence, she is confronted by a new demon. She falls victim, by the hands of a trusted adult, to sexual abuse. The devastation of these events causes her to question God’s roll in her life, and whether He ever loved her at all. The Tablet of My Heart is a collection of poetry from the journal of that young girl. It is narrated by the author of the journal herself, who paints a portrait of words illustrating her emotional journey from hopelessness to healing. It is dedicated to victims of abuse; to bring to them the realization of hope that there is a light at the end of the silence.

You can visit Elizabeth on the web at www.tabletofmyheart.net.

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Dawson Church, author of the nonfiction book, The Genie in Your Genes (Energy Psychology Press – Elite Books), will be stopping off at Reader Views! The Genie in Your Genes is a breakthrough book linking consciousness to genetic change. For the first time, a single book summarizes a chain of remarkable scientific discoveries that are revolutionizing the ways we think about health.

You can visit him online at www.genieinyourgenes.com.